Recent replace the thermostat and radiator with a mishmoto aluminum radiator due to overheating problems(b/c of the turbo).... bleed the system a bunch of times, and can't figure out why it only overheat while driving....when i come to a stop, the temperature goes down, but this happens once in a while, not all the time... fan kicks on, and all...wondering if it could be a bad cluster?

 

If the fan is kicking on then it isn't your cluster.... maybe you need a new water pump.... or the turbo could have done some damage to the head gasket or even the cylinder wall ( I had this happen )

 

installed oem honda waterpump, timing belt when i first dropped the motor in...that was about 10,000 miles ago.... new thermostat from autozone.

 

anyone think it could be the thermostat?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by lo0nY &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">installed oem honda waterpump, timing belt when i first dropped the motor in...that was about 10,000 miles ago.... new thermostat from autozone.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Can you see a leak anywhere? Is there a bunch of crap in the over-fill bottle? Did you change the hoses? Is the mixture ratio correct?

 

hoses were change, i don't see any leaks.....there's dirt in the overflow bottle, but it's always been there when i put the car together a year ago...i forgot to clean it....i bought the 50/50 prestone and added some water wetter to it...

 

It could be a bas sensor. Are you burning any coolant?

 

when you pull the radiator cap, can you see little bubbles coming up? if so head gasket. my friend just had the same problem, replaced rad. and stat. still overheated, turned out to be a cracked head, and blown headgasket.

 

i'm not burning any coolant....coolant level stays the same. if i leave the cap open, at idle it doesn't bubble, but when the car a/c kicks on, or when the idle goes up it bubbles ( i think that's normal)

the weird part is that the over fill bottle will fill up to the max level, when the day before it was a minimum...so i when i check the radiator level it's always missing whateve was in the overfill bottle....

the car doesn't over heat all the time, it just when i run it hard at cold starts.....

it's been three days no over heat... but it's been like that, once every three or four days it'll over heat again...but i know the fan is working

could it be my intercooler blocking my radiator?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by lo0nY &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
the car doesn't over heat all the time, it just when i run it hard at cold starts.....

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I think you just said the magic words. If your car doesn't overheat under normal driving conditions everything is most likely fine.

 

that's a blown head gasket buddy. trust me, i've had enough of em to know. the pressure is forcing the coolant into the overflow bottle. It may be semi mild, but that's a blown head gasket. gauranteed. mine did simialiar the last time i blew it. it only heated up occasionally, usually not at idle. no bubbling, no milky nasty looking oil, but it was overfilling the overflow.

 

the overflow bottle doesn't over fill, just to the max level......i checked my spark plugs for moisture and nothing...

 

sorry, i guess over filling is the wrong term. if it's filling up at all, that means either one, you have a bad radiator cap, or two you have a blown headgasket. please take this advice, i've serisouly been through 4 headgaskets and helped 2 friends with it. hopefully it's just minor right now, maybe you can replace the gasket and the head isn't warped. all a water pump does is pump water, it doesn't create pressure, so there would be no way for water to get into the overflow bottle. you have a crack or a blow in the head gasket near the piston, and when the compression goes out some of it is being forced into your cooling system, forcing coolant into your overflow. get it fixed immediately, don't continue to drive it like that because a head gasket set is only $87 at advanced auto parts and a lot of work on your part. a warped head on the other hand, well the machine shop near me charges like $200+ to shave a warped head.

 

sound like a blown head gasket bud, my buddys eclipse did the same thing and it was a blown head gasket, good luck with the fix